Mystery Readers Journal: Cross-Genre Mysteries

Mystery Readers Journal: Cross-Genre Mysteries (42:3) is now available. 

Thanks to all the authors, reviewers, and columnists who contributed to this issue. Thanks, also, to the supporters of Mystery Readers Journal. Special thanks to Associate Editor Kate Derie and Webmaster Sue Trowbridge.

Cross-Genre Mysteries (Fall 2026) is available as a downloadable PDF or in paperback from Amazon.

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Cross-Genre Mysteries

Volume 42, No. 3, Fall 2026

Buy this back issue! Available as a downloadable PDF or in paperback from Amazon

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ARTICLES

• Books That Blend Crime with Speculative Fiction or Dark Romance by Ada Marie Saber
• Walking the Dark Crossroads of Magic and Crime by Ayo Onatade
• The Mean (and Dusty) Streets of Luke Short by Randal S. Brandt
• The Love Detective by Ashley Bowden

AUTHOR! AUTHOR!

• A Western/Hollywood/WWII Historical/Charlie Chan Adventure by Lou Armagno
• Literary/Mystery or Drama/Mystery? by Paul A. Barra
• The Mechanics of Steampunk and Mystery by Shelley Adina Bates
• What the Heck Is “Genre,” Anyway? by Juliet Blackwell
• Crossing Genres Can Be Fun, but It’s Not Always Easy to Do by R.G. Belsky
• Psychics, Ghosts, and Witches, Oh My! by Kris Bock
• Baking Magic into Mysteries by Jennifer Chow
• The Risk and Reward of Cross-Genre Fiction by Brian Cox
• A Bedtime Story by Barbara DaCosta
• An Unexpected Twist—For the Author by Jacqueline Diamond
• Death Like You’ve Never Met Her Before by Veronika Dapunt
• Solving the Mystery of Writing Cross-Genre by Maxie Dara
• A Mysterious Transformation by Yves Fey
• Choosing to Change: The Many Genres of My Horror Debut by Kennedy Cole
• My Ghost Mystery by Kaye George
• We Did a Genre Mash (It Was a Graveyard Smash) by Kat Hillis and Rosiee Thor
• Character Assassination by Sarah Lotz
• James Bond Goes West by Scott McCrea
• Partners in Crime(-Solving): Romance in the Mystery Novel by Jackie McMahon
• Murder, Magic, and Merry Christmas: My Love Affair with Cross-Genre Fiction by Kevin Moore
• Moloch and the Angel by Pat Morin
• The Apology Writer: When the Mystery Is Not Only What Happened by Apryl Morin
• The Trial and Tribulations of Researching Life—and Death—in 1734 by Donalee Moulton
• Speculative Detectives and the Importance of Mixing It Up by Richie Narvaez
• Genre Subversion in Gumshoe Frankenstein by Paul Ryan O’Connor
• Mystery Mash-Up in the Wild Wild West by Ann Parker
• Myself on a Shelf by Annelise Ryan
• Cross-Genres are Great Opportunities by A H Scott
• Writing Across Genres by A.L. Sirois
• Crossing Genres in the Classroom by Art Taylor
• A Whisker of Murder and Romance by Jaden Terrell
• Add a Little Supernatural Zest for a Delicious Reading Experience by Vikki VanSickle
• Adult–YA Crossovers: A New Genre or Familiar Fiction? by Nancy G. West
• Crossing Over: Flirting With the Future by Bruce Wetterau
• A Simple Crossover Recipe by N.S. Wikarski
• Traditional Mystery Series with a Science Fiction Flavor by Dave Zeltzerman
• Emerald Love: Shape-Shifting Country Music Star As Sleuth by Elizabeth Zelvin

COLUMNS

• Mystery in Retrospect: Reviews by Lesa Holstine, Dru Ann Love, Craig Sisterson, Lucinda Surber
• Children’s Hour: Cross-Genre Mysteries by Gay Toltl Kinman
• Cross-Genre: Mysteries and True Crime by Cathy Pickens
• Crime Seen: Genre Segue by Kate Derie
• The Law West of the Mississippi by Jim Doherty
• From the Editor’s Desk by Janet Rudolph

*** Read the full version of Jim Doherty’s article “The Law West of the Mississippi” ***

ANTHONY AWARD WINNERS: Bouchercon 2026

Anthony Award Winners were announced at Bouchercon 2026 in Calgary, October 24, 2026.  Here's the list for all the nominees. Congratulations to all!

𝗕𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗛𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗡𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹 

The Black Wolf by Louise Penny 

𝗕𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗡𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹 

Mask of the Deer Woman by Laurie L. Dove 

𝗕𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗣𝗮𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸/ eBook/Audiobook 

 

Edge by Tracy Clark 

𝗕𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗻'𝘀/𝗬𝗔 𝗡𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹 

Death in the Cards by Mia P. Manansala 

𝗕𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗖𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹/𝗡𝗼𝗻-𝗙𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 

Vacations Can Be Murder: A True Crime Lover's Travel Guide to New England by Dawn M. Barclay 

𝗕𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗔𝗻𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆/𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 

On Fire and Under Water: A Climate Change Crime Fiction Anthology edited by Curtis Ippolito Hollywood Kills edited by Adam Meyer & Alan Orloff 

𝗕𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 

"AITA for Using My Husband's Hobby to Teach Him a Lesson" by Mindy Carlson 

PETRONA AWARD 2026: Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year

The winner of the Petrona Award 2026 for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year is:
INTO THIN AIR by Ørjan Karlsson translated from the Norwegian by Ian Giles and published by Orenda Books.

2026 Barry Award Winners: Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine

The 2026 Barry Award Winners

The Barry Awards are nominated by Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine. Congratulations to all. The winners of the 2026 Barry Awards were announced at the Opening Ceremonies of Bouchercon (Calgary, Canada) last night. Congratulations to all!

Best Mystery

KING OF ASHES, S. A. Cosby (Flatiron Books)

Best First Mystery

THE VANISHING PLACE, Zoe Rankin (Berkley)

Best Paperback Original Mystery

THE DENTIST, Tim Sullivan (Atlantic Crime)

Best Thriller

MIDNIGHT BLACK, Mark Greaney (Berkley)

Cartoon of the Day: Vegan Witches

 

Why France? by Peter May: Mystery Readers Journal (42:2: Spring 2026)

This essay by the late great Peter May appeared in the Spring 2026 issue of Mystery Readers Journal. Peter was a frequent contributor to the Mystery Readers Journal-- and a friend. His final novel, Island of the Dead, will be published in January 2027. 

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Why France? by Peter May 

Born and raised in Scotland, I’ve written seven books set in France and it has been my home for more than a quarter of century. 

So, why France? Was it reading about the life of Hemingway? Expat writers and intellectuals living the high life in Paris on limited means; self-destruction and creative genius fuelled by house wine, Gitanes and absinthe. 

Was it family vacations? French camping holidays every year, touring rural France and walking the cobbled streets of medieval villages where characters, history, and stories fill every step. 

Was it the wonderful rustic cuisine to be found in country restaurants? Or the chance to visit legendary vineyards and meet the wine-makers behind iconic labels? What’s better than lunching in a little bistro in the square of the tiny village of Puligny-Montrachet and being served its world-celebrated wine in an earthenware jug? 

Or was it the fact that no matter what you are looking for, France has it? You can laze on a beach on the Côte d’Azur; rent a fisherman’s cottage on a Breton island; ski in the Alps; climb volcanic peaks; take boat trips through spectacular gorges; stroll through thousand-year-old castles and know that for ten centu- ries, generations of men and women warmed themselves by these fireplaces and walked on these flagstones. 

Maybe it was the combination of all of these things. By the time I was in my mid-thirties, I had swapped the annual campsites for a 15th- century bellringer’s house in a village in southwest France. A vacation retreat, to take me away from the high-stress world of writing television drama. Over a period of fifteen years I escaped there whenever I could with my wife, writer Janice Hally. We worked together on more than a thousand episodes of television serials as creators, scriptwriters, storyliners, script editors and latterly for me, as a producer. Rural France was our quiet place, away from deadlines and viewing figures and ratings wars. 

Then, in the midst of loss and grief, France became a refuge where we would rebuild our 26 lives. 

In the mid-1990s, we quit television so that I could fulfill my lifelong ambition of writing books. During the four years leading up to the new millennium, I embarked on researching and writing my China thrillers. But some greater force decided I needed other challenges—my father’s dementia, my wife’s mis- carriage, and the deaths of all four of our parents in a traumatic five year period. It was a bleak and difficult time. We found ourselves retreating to France. We bought a bigger house, not just for vacations, but to live in. Time to begin a new chapter. 

After six China thrillers, I turned my thoughts to a new setting. Location had always been important to me, but it was time for a change. 

Looking back on Scotland from afar, gave me the perspective to write The Blackhouse. I poured my heart and soul into it, only to have it turned down by every UK publisher. I was devastated, until I let my French publisher read it. She “adored” it. She bought world rights and published it first in France, and in French. It was declared “a masterpiece” by the newspaper L’Humanité and won multiple literary awards in France. It was eventually published around the world and ended up winning the US Barry Award. That breakthrough changed my life. 

After writing about Scotland, I turned my sights to my adopted homeland. 

Living in a country is different from visiting it. You absorb its rhythms, its habits, its ways of thinking, and yet a small part of you always remains detached, observing. Living in France has given me an insider’s understanding, but I still retain an outsider’s curiosity. I notice things that might escape someone born and raised in the country. The quirks, the contradictions, the small details that bring a place to life on the page. 

France is a country layered with stories. Every village square, every crumbling château, every stretch of vineyard holds secrets. And I began to wonder what might happen if those secrets no longer stayed buried, but were in- stead dug up by some curious investigator. Someone who, like me, is a bit of an outsider. 

Enzo Macleod is half-Scottish, half-Italian, with a French daughter, and entirely at home in France—though perhaps never fully belonging. Someone with more than a little pain in his past, but a survivor, dogged and determined. Formerly a top forensic scientist, he is now a professor at a university in Toulouse. France has been his home for twenty years. 

The series begins with Enzo foolishly accepting a bet that he could use modern technology to solve seven of France’s most notorious cold cases. Each investigation takes Enzo to a different corner of France, from the intellectual elite of the École Nationale d’Administration in Paris to the vineyards of the southwest, from the European Parliament in Strasbourg to the headquarters of the Foreign Legion in Provence. 

To travel through France with Enzo is to immerse yourself not only in the investigation of a crime, but in an exploration of French life—the history, the landscape, the culture and the cuisine. 

Having taken French nationality, I now hold a French passport (that’s a whole story for another time). I have gone from what one interviewer described as the “most French of all Scotsmen” to being the “most Scottish of all Frenchmen”. And last year, I was awarded the Grand Prix de Littérature Policière, France’s top prize for crime writing. 

My adopted country has adopted me and I couldn’t be more proud. 

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This article appeared in Mystery Readers Journal: Mysteries set in France (42:2: Spring 2026) 

https://mysteryreaders.org/journal-index/mysteries-set-in-france-2026/

Mystery Readers Journal: Mysteries set in France is available in both print and PDF formats. 

Available as a downloadable PDF or in paperback from Amazon.